A CAUCUS is.... a committee, or group of people,
charged with shaping politics, or the way things are to
be done.

They were indeed a queer-looking party that
assembled on the bank--the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with
their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable.

The first question of course was, how to
get dry again: they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes
it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with
them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long
argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say,
`I am older than you, and must know better'; and this Alice would
not allow without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively
refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.

At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person
of authority among them, called out, `Sit down, all of you, and listen
to me! I'LL soon make you dry enough!' They all sat down at once,
in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously
fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not
get dry very soon.

`Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important
air, `are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all
round, if you please!

"William the Conqueror, whose cause was
favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted
leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest.
Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria- -"'

`Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver.

`I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse,
frowning, but very politely: `Did you speak?'

`Not I!' said the Lory hastily.

`I thought you did,' said the Mouse.
`--I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria,
declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury,
found it advisable--"'

`I know what "it" means well enough,
when I find a thing,' said the Duck: `it's generally a frog or
a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?'

The Mouse did not notice this question,
but hurriedly went on, `"--found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling
to meet William and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was
moderate. But the insolence of his Normans--" How are you getting on now,
my dear?' it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.

`As wet as ever,' said Alice in
a melancholy tone: `it doesn't seem to dry me at all.'

`In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly,
rising to its feet, `I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate
adoption of more energetic remedies--'

`Speak English!' said the Eaglet.
`I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and, what's more,
I don't believe you do either!' And the Eaglet bent down its head
to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly.

`What I was going to say,' said the Dodo
in an offended tone, `was, that the best thing to get us dry
would be a Caucus-race.'

`What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not
that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it
thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined
to say anything.

`Why,' said the Dodo, `the best way
to explain it is to do it.' (And, as you might like to try
the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo
managed it.)

Image: Sir John Tenniel - 1865
1890 Nursery Version

First it marked out a race-course, in a sort
of circle, (`the exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then
all the party were placed along the course, here and there.

There was no `One, two, three, and away,' but
they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked,
so that it was not easy to know when the race was over.

Image: Maria Kirk - 1904

Image: Arthur Rackham, 1907

However, when they had been running half an hour
or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out
`The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting,
and asking, `But who has won?'

This question the Dodo could not answer without
a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger
pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see
Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in
silence. At last the Dodo said, `EVERYBODY has won, and all
must have prizes.'

`But who is to give the prizes?' quite
a chorus of voices asked.

`Why, SHE, of course,'
said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; and the whole party
at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused way, `Prizes!
Prizes!'

Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair
she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily
the salt water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes.
There was exactly one a-piece all round.

A COMFIT is....a type of sweetmeat, which means... bits of crystalized
fruit, or very sweet candy or little cakes.

`But she must have a prize herself,
you know,' said the Mouse.

`Of course,' the Dodo replied very
gravely. `What else have you got in your pocket?' he went on, turning
to Alice.

`Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.

`Hand it over here,' said the Dodo.

Then they all crowded round her once more, while
the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying `We beg your
acceptance of this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished
this short speech, they all cheered.

Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but
they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and,
as she could not think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and
took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could.

Image: Bessie Pease Gutmann, 1907

Image: A.E. Jackson, 1915

The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused
some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they
could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be
patted on the back.

However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring,
and begged the Mouse to tell them something more.

`You promised to tell me your history, you
know,' said Alice, `and why it is you hate--C and
D,' she added in a whisper, half afraid that it would be offended
again.

`Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said
the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.

`It IS a long tail, certainly,' said
Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail' `but why do
you call it sad?' And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse
was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this:--
_Image: Sir John Tenniel - 1865

We lived beneath the mat
Warm and snug and fat
But one woe, & that
Was the cat!
To our joys
a clog, In
our eyes a
fog, On our
hearts a log
Was the dog!
When the
cats away,
Then
the mice
will
play,
But, alas!
one day,

__________(So they say)
Came the dog and
cat, Hunting
for a
rat,
Crushed
the mice
all flat,
Each
one
as
he
sat
Underneath the mat,
warm, & snug, & fat--________________________Think of that!

`Please come back and finish your story!'
Alice called after it; and the others all joined in chorus, `Yes,
please do!' but the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked
a little quicker.

`What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed
the Lory, as soon as it was quite out of sight; and an old Crab took the
opportunity of saying to her daughter `Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson
to you never to lose YOUR temper!'

`Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the
young Crab, a little snappishly. `You're enough to try the patience
of an oyster!'

`I wish I had our Dinah here, I know
I do!' said Alice aloud, addressing nobody in particular. `She'd
soon fetch it back!'

`And who is Dinah, if I might venture
to ask the question?' said the Lory.

Alice replied eagerly, for she was always
ready to talk about her pet: `Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital
one for catching mice you can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her
after the birds! Why, she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!'
This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party.

Some of the birds hurried off at
once: one the old Magpie began wrapping itself up very carefully,
remarking, `I really must be getting home; the night-air doesn't
suit my throat!' and a Canary called out in a trembling voice
to its children, `Come away, my dears! It's high time you were
all in bed!'

On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left
alone. Image: Lewis Carroll

`I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!'
she said to herself in a melancholy tone. `Nobody seems to like her,
down here, and I'm sure she's the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah!
I wonder if I shall ever see you any more!' And here poor Alice began
to cry again, for she felt very lonely and low-spirited. In a little while,
however, she again heard a little pattering of footsteps in the distance,
and she looked up eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his
mind, and was coming back to finish his story.